ANU Trace Biomarker & Organic Geochemistry Laboratory
The Trace Biomarker & Organic Geochemistry Laboratory at ANU provides dedicated facilities for the ultra-clean analysis of molecular fossils. The laboratory was specifically designed and optimised for the detection of trace hydrocarbons preserved in billion-year-old sedimentary rocks and from archaeological materials.
The laboratory pioneered techniques for detecting and removing younger contaminants, enabling the recovery of authentic molecular signals from ancient organisms that inhabited Earth's early oceans. Research conducted in the facility has led to the discovery of the oldest known hydrocarbons (2.7 Ga), the oldest biogenic molecules (1.7 Ga), the oldest pigment that retains its original colour (pink, 1.1 Ga), and the oldest lipid biomarkers from an animal, the Ediacaran organism Dickinsonia (555 Ma).
Groups
Content navigation
About
Rock Preparation Facility
The Trace Biomarker Laboratory maintains a dedicated rock preparation facility to minimise cross-contamination during sample processing. The facility houses ultra-clean diamond wafering saws, a custom-built microsonication-ablation system capable of removing thin surface layers from rock samples, and a Rocklabs rock crusher.
Biomarker Wet Laboratory
The biomarker wet laboratory contains all equipment required for the solvent extraction of organic molecules from rock powders and sediments. Major instrumentation includes a Dionex Accelerated Solvent Extractor (ASE), an ultrasonication system, and a Caliper TurboVap solvent concentrator. The laboratory also supports the separation of total extracts into individual compound fractions for downstream analyses.
Accelerated Solvent Extractor
The Accelerated Solvent Extractor (Dionex ASE 200) is designed for the efficient extraction of natural products, hydrocarbons, oils, bitumens, and other organic compounds from biological materials, sediments, and rock powders. For extraction, 10 to 30 g of powdered sample is placed in a clean stainless-steel cell and automatically extracted through multiple cycles using solvents such as dichloromethane and methanol under elevated temperature and pressure (typically 100°C and 1000 psi). Compared with conventional Soxhlet extraction, the ASE greatly reduces extraction times from days to minutes while using substantially lower solvent volumes (typically 50 mL rather than 500 mL). The reduced solvent volume can also lower analytical background for certain compound classes. Following extraction, the solvent is collected in 50 mL glass vials and concentrated under a gentle stream of purified nitrogen using a TurboVap® LV (Caliper) system.
Micropyrolysis
The laboratory has developed a custom micropyrolysis system that releases hydrocarbons and biomarkers from trace quantities of solid organic matter and lipid precursors under ultra-clean conditions. The method provides a cost-effective alternative to conventional hydropyrolysis and can generate analyzable products within minutes. Micropyrolysis is primarily used to convert functionalised biolipids into geolipids (hydrocarbon biomarkers). These products can then be used as templates for identifying related biomarkers in the geological record.
Biomarker Detection
The laboratory's gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) instrumentation is equipped for the detection and analysis of trace quantities of non-polar organic compounds, including lipids, pigments, toxins, pharmaceuticals, and fossil hydrocarbons. These compounds commonly occur within highly complex mixtures containing potentially millions of individual components.
The facility houses a Micromass AutoSpec Premier double-focusing GC-MS system, a size-exclusion HPLC system, a GC-FID instrument, and a GC×GC preparative separation system. Additional analyses, including compound-specific isotopic measurements, are performed through collaborations with Geoscience Australia and ANU's mass spectrometry facilities, which provide a comprehensive suite of GC-MS and LC-MS instrumentation for compound identification and quantification, including compound-specific isotope analysis.
Micromass AutoSpec Premier
The centrepiece of the laboratory is a Micromass AutoSpec Premier GC-MS, a highly sensitive double-focusing magnetic-sector mass spectrometer used for the detection and identification of trace hydrocarbon biomarkers. The instrument is capable of quantifying compounds at nanogram-level abundances with high selectivity, sensitivity, reproducibility, and a dynamic range spanning five orders of magnitude. At RSES, the AutoSpec is routinely used to detect hydrocarbons present at extremely low concentrations in bitumens and oils extracted from billion-year-old sedimentary rocks. One of the instrument's principal strengths is its exceptional dynamic range, allowing compounds that differ in abundance by up to a factor of 100,000 to be quantified within a single analytical run. The AutoSpec also provides accurate mass measurements at resolutions of up to 10,000 for molecular formula determination, together with selected ion recording (SIR), metastable reaction monitoring (GC-MS/MS MRM), daughter-ion scanning, neutral-loss scanning, and full-scan acquisition modes.
Size-Exclusion High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
The size-exclusion HPLC system comprises an Agilent 1100 Series capillary chromatograph equipped with a size-exclusion column and automated fraction collector. The instrument is used to isolate hydrocarbon fractions for compound-specific isotopic analysis and targeted biomarker investigations.
geted biomarker investigations.
Articles
The discovery of a "lost world" of ancient organisms that lived in Earth's waterways at least 1.6 billion years ago could change our understanding of our earliest ancestors.
Scientists from ANU have discovered the oldest colours in the geological record, 1.1 billion-year-old bright pink pigments extracted from rocks deep beneath the Sahara desert in Africa.
Location
Jaeger Building 1, Research School of Earth Sciences, 2nd Floor